how did swami rama die

In order to believe in his perfection, they must rationalize behavior that others would judge to be tyrannical, cruel, or self-indulgent. Despite the questions about his background, there is no denying that Swami Rama made a terrific impact on western thinking when he served as a research subject at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas. The capacity to leave the body consciously at the time of death is not restricted only to accomplished yogis. I said, Maharaj ji, then grant me the healing power and I will use it to heal you. The Greens' experiments caused a furor in the scientific community because they gave powerful support to autogenic biofeedback research, which 10 years earlier had begun demonstrating that body functions which had formerly been considered involuntary could be controlled. This was to us a lesson in what total selflessness of a yogi means. Not permitted by the Tradition.. I ask him. Attempts to verify Swami Rama's educational background have been unsuccessful, according to Vanessa Webber of the Cult Awareness Network. . Pandit Arya has many profound and beautiful things to say about his relationship to his guru when I interview him at the Divya Jyoti yoga center in Napa, California, in May 1989. Let's. She couldn't make sense out of his behavior, because she found it impossible to believe that it was really about sex-and she repeatedly told him so. ." [2] He further claimed to have gained degree-level qualifications from an Indian school of homeopathic medicine, the University of Hamburg, Utrecht University, and finally the University of Oxford. Notable teachers he encountered included Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, and Sri Ramana Maharshi. Ramana Maharshi ( [rm mhri]; 30 December 1879 - 14 April 1950) was an Indian Hindu sage [1] and jivanmukta (liberated being). [3] [note 1] He was born in Tiruchuli, Tamil Nadu, India. As the scientific interest in yoga declined through the 1980s, Swami Rama lead the Himalayan Institute until his death in 1996. My father certainly had sex, and that's why I was born, so will I lose faith in my father? A few weeks later she moved to Honesdale. He spoke Bengali and knew neither English nor Sanskrit. He is also supposed to have graduated from a homeopathic medical school in India, and studied at Hamburg University, the University of Utrecht, and Oxford University. She says she confessed her secret relationship with Swami Rama for the first time, telling her counselor that she was still confused about it. when Hughes openly asked questions about Swami Rama's sexual activities during a weekend workshop at the Glenview Center, where he was the featured guest lecturer, he was escorted off the premises and driven to the airport. They also record numerous instances when he took many disciples illnesses upon himself and either absorbed them into his own physical systems or dissipated them. Everyone knows about Lord Rama's wife i.e. Shortly after they started studying with Pandit Usharbudh Arya at the Meditation Center in Minneapolis, he introduced them to his guru, Swami Rama. And people must stop covering up for the perpetrators by ignoring or denying that it is happening. She became paralyzed by her fear of angering him. She says he arranged for her to meet him at the Gramercy Park Hotel and instructed her not to call him Swami in public. One day Swami Rama called for her and told her he wouldn't be taking her to India that autumn. Alternate titles: Gadadhar Chatterji, Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya. "Before [these women] started saying these things, I also had a very good feeling that these people were wonderful people and they would never lie and they were trustworthy people. Most of the Institute's programs are open to the general public. Edited by Swami Ajaya [Allan Weinstein]. Carolyn,* an old friend, called me collect. These are also available through Lotus Press in USA. We examined his pulse, heartbeat, and breath, but there was no sign of life. Please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Long-term residents must get administration approval for any overnight absences; permission may be denied if their destination is judged inappropriate. We examined his pulse, heartbeat, and breath, but there was no sign of life. Perhaps during his visit to Asia Minor he learned these techniques from the yogis. At age 23 Ramakrishna married Sarada Devi, a five-year-old girl, but, because of his advocacy of celibacy, the marriage was never consummated, even though they remained together until his death. she remembers him demanding. Swami Rama made Carolyn his appointments secretary in August also. He dictated the instructions for his several hundred organizations to his secretaries. But after two unsatisfying years, she left college and returned to the Chicago area. I met a yogi at Paidung in Sikkim in the year I947. Rose told Brian and Terry that she was afraid to seek help from the family members who'd invited her to the Institute-they were unquestioningly loyal to Swami Rama-and she knew no one else there. Yet Swami Rama, knowing that Hughes was gay, had repeatedly urged him to marry various women Institute members and had insisted that his homosexuality was unnatural and unhealthy. ", Shortly after Pandit Rajmani introduced her to Swami Rama, Megan says, the guru called her into his private quarters and told her that they'd been together in a past life, that he'd waited to meet her again in this lifetime, and that now they were reunited. Honesdale, Pa.: Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, 1978. No, he says: "Even if it happened, what's the big deal? She did not allow even her eldest son, Dr. A.N.Tandon, to remain in the room. On the occasion of his death anniversary, read a few things related to Swami Vivekananda . She would start with handling the appointments and then she would make his plane reservations, scheduling lecture tours. Someone informed me of this and I could not believe it. Friends of the two couples set up a "truth booth" outside the entrance of the Institute's first annual congress in 1976. Honesdale, Pa.: Himalayan Institute, 1978. Born into a poor Brahman (the highest-ranking social class) family, Ramakrishna had little formal schooling. Sri Ramakrishna Death Did He Get Cancer Due to Past Bad Karma? Soon Carolyn noticed she wasn't the only woman being favored by the guru; he was also paying attention to Megan and Nirvana. Brian didn't believe his teacher, and he spoke with several other Institute administrators and board members about Rose's claim of abuse. [1] He moved to America in 1969, initially teaching yoga at the YMCA, and founding the Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy in Illinois in 1971; its headquarters moved to its current location in Honesdale, Pennsylvania in 1977. During that time, neither of them would see any other, and she should never tell anyone. Then, after a few weeks I saw him in Delhi. If somehow Pandit Rajmani were forced to acknowledge that the women were telling the truth, would this shatter his faith in the guru? The message that all religions lead to the same end was certainly a politically and religiously powerful one, particularly because it answered in classical Indian terms the challenges of British missionaries and colonial authorities who had for almost a century criticized Hinduism on social, religious, and ethical grounds. I like to believe that somewhere inside of him, he is the good person I believed him to be. Both came from prominent Midwestern families; each had an alcoholic parent, and they now believe they were seeking not only spiritual growth, but also a strong parental figure. At a young age, Swami Rama is supposed to have been appointed Shankaracharya of Karvirpitham, an exalted spiritual post. Even so, it was a blow to find out that she wasn't particularly special: Swami Rama apparently had other "spiritual courtesans." The above is an excerpt from Swami Veda Bharatis planned book about Gurudeva Swami Rama. (April 12, 2023). Box 148252. Born: February 18, 1833 State licensing boards may take away a professional's license to practice if he (or she) is found guilty of "inappropriate sexual contact," which may include everything from verbal sexual innuendos to a long-term sexual liaison with a client or patient. [2][11] The journalist Katharine Webster stated in Yoga Journal in 1990 that women had since the early 1970s made claims of sexual abuse against him, and that since the matter had never been investigated, she had spent two years researching it. 'In one mirror there was one face. The teachings contained in the sacred texts cannot play any meaningful part in judging who is a good guru and who is not: "How could they? [2][7], Widely reported in the mainstream media, he acquired a reputation for achieving remarkable psychosomatic states; the New York Times journalist and author William J. Two women wrote statements, which said they had discovered that Swami Rama was attempting to "seduce" both of them contemporaneously. He wept for hours at a time and felt a burning sensation throughout his body while imploring the Divine Mother to reveal herself. But all of them, whether they appear here under a pseudonym or as a background source, understand that if this article provokes a libel suit they can be called to testify in court. It is sad for him, and for those who cared and were so deeply hurt by him, that his behavior has been allowed to continue with such devastating results to people just looking for help." When they have contacted their friends and former colleagues at the Institute, they have been discounted as liars or labeled "emotionally disturbed." Most of the former members of the Institute who agreed to be interviewed for this article were also afraid to have their identities revealed; they appear under pseudonyms, marked with an asterisk. Ravana summons his chariot and vows that at the end . Swami Vivekananda Death Anniversary: 4th July is the 116th death anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. It does not and cannot die because it is eternal. [2], In 1997, a woman won a lawsuit, first filed in 1994,[12] regarding multiple sexual assault by Swami Rama while she was attending the Himalayan Institute in 1993; she was awarded $1.9 million in damages. Indian religious leader and mystic Carolyn rationalized: Swamiji was her guru, so even though the prospect of having sex with him seemed morally wrong and physically revolting, he must be doing it for her own good. '"My dear,"' she says her counselor told her, "You sound just like a sexually abused child, a little girl whose Daddy told you never to tell anyone.". One of these was in Minneapolis. The Institute also offers instruction to counselors and psychotherapists in the application of yoga and meditation techniques to therapy. Carolyn says she spent years blaming herself and trying to rationalize away what she now regards as sexual abuse. At this time one of us three was destined to leave: he (grandmaster), I or yourself (referring to me). One of my friends, Vinaya Maharaj, sent a messenger to my camp informing me that he was going to drop his body and I should come to witness it. They announced the date of their death and I was one of the witnesses. The yogi suddenly went into deep meditation. Brian says he felt betrayed, but the knowledge that Swami Rama had financially exploited him made it easier for the couple to cut their ties to the Institute. I mean, he's giving you the teachings and you're going to use the teachings to evaluate him? If a hundred people come and say that the day is night and I know that it's not, the voting system doesn't do it here, you know? The lawsuit I heard rumors about in New York City never materialized. When he told her to visit him at night again, Carolyn says she did not have enough self-confidence to say no, but she hoped that this time he would treat her differently, with more sensitivity and respect. At the age of twenty-four, the story goes that he was given the position of Shankaracharya of Karvirpitham . But he did not cure himself of the diabetes he took on from someone. For the At the Feet of a Himalayan Master books: The website of the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust (HIHT) is http://www.hihtindia.org/ . The link for the Swami Rama Centre is http://www.hihtindia.org/SRC%20NEW/src_home.htm After each of these sadhanas, Ramakrishna claimed to have had the same experience of brahman, the supreme power, or ultimate reality, of the universe. He became famous for his ability to control his body in yoga nidra, writing many books including the autobiographical Living with Himalayan Masters. As the Bhagavad Gita states: "He is unmanifest, is not the subject of thought, and is said to be incorruptible; therefore, knowing Him, it does not behoove you to grieve after anyone.". In the spring of 1983, Swami Rama began to court her again, she says: He told her that she would help him prepare a book of sacred poetry he was writing, and he assured her repeatedly that he would take her to India the following autumn. She asked him to give her a homeopathic remedy for the itching, she says, but he refused and turned away, dismissing her. Mr. Mitchell found background "whispers" with statements such as: " the poison is going down," " push real hard it is going down him," " poisoning for a long time," " he's gonna die," " yes, a heart attack time," " the poison is in you Srila Prabhupada," followed by, " he's going under," and so on and so forth. In his short lifetime, he spread Indian culture and spirituality all over the world. At that, she says, he raged at her until she was sobbing, unable to speak a word in her own defense: No! Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Ultimately, the woman had revealed the liaison to her husband. [7], In another experiment at the Menninger Foundation, he voluntarily stopped his heart from pumping blood for 17 seconds. Karen, the woman whose claims were ridiculed at the meeting where Swami Rama and the other directors responded to Brian's charges, was one of the first ex-members to confront top Institute administrators. One evening she went out to dinner with Martha*, an old friend from East West Books Chicago. But the siddhis can be an ego trap. Hughes is not so easily coerced into silence: he says he plans to continue to press the Institute's administration to fulfill iLs edii-cal obligations to investigate the women's complaints and put a stop to any abuse. At bottom, however, she believed her feelings didn't matter. Swami Rama (Svm Rma; 1925 13 November 1996) was an Indian yoga guru. His disciples generally agree that the only reason his soul still inhabits a physical body is because he wants to help others achieve liberation from maya, the realm of illusion. She remembers that Swami Rama received love letters from several women; one of two of them even mentioned "your child." Ramakrishna, now alone, prayed for a vision of Kali-Ma (Kali the Mother), whom he worshipped as the supreme manifestation of God. . [9] The result was a sharp increase of interest in his teachings. A pearl necklace that Brian had bought from Swami Rama as an "investment" was appraised at roughly one-third of the $100,000 he had paid for it. Answer (1 of 12): Swami Vivekananda was a perfect Yogi, He had all the powers to cure Himself as well as others. I said, But, then, Swamiji, you have healed so many in life. Box 400, Honesdale, PA 18431: (717) 253-5551. By 1977, the Institute was able to purchase the Honesdale ashram, a former Catholic seminary in the rural Pocono Mountains, which now houses more than 100 residents and guests. In the mythology of the ashram, the guru is the all-powerful, all-knowing father and the disciples are his spiritual children. So far, none of their attempts to communicate their experiences has been met by official Institute willingness to investigate their charges. When the doctors were trying to heal his cancer, he is reported to have said something like: "Here, I am trying to rid myself of the big disease called the body by using a small disease and you all are trying to rid of this small disease that is my instrument". He is held accountable only to the higher spiritual laws, which he is uniquely able to comprehend. But it is also common in the thought-control techniques of totalitarian states. Carolyn moved back to Chicago, found a job, returned to school, and soon met a non-institute man she wanted to marry. Why did Carolyn say these things? Perfect. It was also about this time that Calcutta newspaper and journal articles first referred to him as the Hindu saint or as the Paramahamsa (a religious title of respect and honour). To the ordinary mind this seems like a fantasy. Megan recalls that in one of her first encounters with Swami Rama, she watched as he humiliated a quiet, withdrawn woman resident. Many people, including the victims themselves, have trouble understanding how damaging such sexual contact can be, because the women are adults and no one is holding a gun to their heads. Encyclopedia.com. "Rama, Swami (1925-1996) There's no need for finding out, if I know it is completely wrong.". According to her anonymous correspondent, "the Himalayan Institute and Swami Rama are one and the same," and Susan's action could destroy "the unselfish work of many people.". But their encounters were exactly the same as before, she says-emotionally impersonal and sexually mechanical. When she did not, the young priest sank into despair. His response: "Listen, there are certain things which are based on witnesses - those are facts. She would live with him in the house he was buying. Well-known Indian teacher of yoga, meditation, and holistic health. Now she says that those who have allowed the abuses to continue unchecked are responsible for destroying the Institute's integrity. At the same time, she felt anxious, because she'd seen how severe Swami Rama could be with those closest to him. But to accept a tuition-free second year, or even to leave the Institute quietly, Megan says, would have meant giving tacit approval to the continuing exploitation. He was asked why he is not healing himself. Well-to-do New Yorkers flock to Honesdale on weekends for seminars in stress reduction, meditation, and health and nutrition. She walked around New York City for hours, until it was time for her bus to return to Honesdale. Relationships are the first test of spirituality. Fourteen years passed and he was still in the body and I took a sigh of relief. The ant came back to life and started crawling. Pandit Arya radiates calm as he speaks. Swami Rama of the Himalayas: His Life and Mission. Carolyn remembers being amazed: Could Swami Rama possibly be talking about sex? Everyone said you had to surrender to the guru, so she would simply have to follow through with whatever he ordered her to do. There's no need for finding out, if I know it is completely wrong.". A Swami, or monk, is supposed to be "one who is master of oneself: senses, body, mind." As Sri Ramakri. On the contrary, they sought opportunities to serve the guru's every whim, or even to be abused by him: Megan remembers one woman saying she wished the guru would kick her. The Swami also continued to teach and write from his centers in India. ", I ask Dr. Ballentine how he would respond if a woman were to come to him and tell him she's been having sex with Swami Rama, and that her "inner voice" has been telling her that it isn't a positive experience. Later in life he became famous for his pithy parables about the ultimate unity of the different religious traditions in this formless Vedantic brahman. Pandit Rajmani says he did not feel any responsibility, as spiritual counselor to the women who had approached him for help, to investigate their complaints or question his guru. Shri Swami Rama did not teach any particular religious doctrine but his teachings aimed at transforming individuals by inspiring them to take charge of their own lives through discipline and strong willpower. That one gesture unleashed a storm of long-suppressed emotions. Dr. Ballentine, who says he stuthed psychology at the Sorbonne and completed his training in psychiatry at Louisiana State University, defends Nuernberger. She said no: She had been on a work crew Swami Rama had ordered to week poison ivy roots for his new garden, and she was covered with oozing blisters. The program seemed to provide the ideal family she'd never had, where everyone shared her values and spiritual goals. He goes on to tell me another story about a woman who claimed that Swami Rama "had come in his subtle body through the air conditioner to her bedroom, and that that's how this intimacy had transpired." He rapidly attracted a following that included many graduate and professional students. I am the one who has given the mantra!. Who? Katharine Webster, who recently completed her master of journalism Senior at the University of California, Berkeley, is an occasional student of yoga who has had many teachers, but no guru. You're bound to get mixed up. They wrote letters to Pandit Usharbudh Arya, their teacher and head of the Meditation Center there, as well as a dozen other people, warning that Swami Rama was a fraud. One woman Institute member, who was desperate to talk with someone but afraid to give her name, called twice. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Pandit Rajmani Tigunait is the resident spiritual director of the Honesdale ashram, as well as a member of the Institute's teaching staff. Following on the wave of favorable publicity, Swami Rama founded the Himalayan Institute in Illinois in 1971. Now Carolyn is more articulate: "When I finally start listening to myself, and I tell him I know he's sleeping with other women-and this is the man I came to, to help me learn how to listen to my inner voice, and then he tells me not to listen to it just as I'm starting to get some confidence in it-that's when I realized, this isn't yoga, this isn't truth, this is abuse.". Through her sympathy for what appeared to be his plight, and disarmed by his jokes, she says she allowed him to cajole her until she let her defenses down. With great concern I asked him how he was. I don't have access to those files." They are crazy. As soon as that ashram was established, he left from there, came back to the Rishikesh ashram and earnestly set about to establish the grand hospital for the service and benefit of the mountain people. Instead they deny the experience of the "unenlightened" women who are the guru's victims. For in his previous births too he had incarnated as the Avatars Lord Rama and Krishna. And this according to Physiology, people can not do. As the scientific interest in yoga declined through the 1980s, Swami Rama lead the Himalayan Institute until his death in 1996. After teaching, studying, and traveling throughout India and Europe, he came to the University of Minnesota in the 1960s, where he taught Sanskrit and Indian religions. Its mission, according to the Articles of Incorporation, was "to make known to the members and people in general the real, synthetic, and harmonious view of world religions and philosophy in terms of modern scientific achievements and undertake researches for all around ethical, social, economical, and spiritual development of humanity to attain world peace, international integration, understanding, and spiritual awakening of the human race." And she was afraid to leave in her old car because a freezing rainstorm had covered all the roads with ice. When the manipulation started to involve her meditation and spiritual practices, she says, she decided to confide in one man who had been at the Institute for a long time and who was planning to leave. Even today his thoughts are used as a priceless mantra by his followers.

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